Holiday Party Safety: Make This Year’s Celebration Memorable For The Right Reasons

Whether your company is hosting a party of 10 people or 500 people, when festivities get into high gear, anything can happen and a lot can unexpectedly go wrong. Your first assumption may be that these problems are alcohol-related and yes, sometimes they can be. However, there are other types of accidents and emergencies that may arise that you never saw coming – unless you take some really smart steps now in the name of preparedness. SOS Technologies has got you covered with a number of them.

Don’t Hold Your Party On Site At Your Office

When you serve liquor on site, there’s a lot of responsibility for who you served and how much that falls squarely on your shoulders. By having the party at an off-site location, you’re partially shifting that responsibility to bartenders who are hopefully quite experienced in recognizing who to serve and who to “cut off.”

Walk The Area To Check For Devices And First AidFire alarms. Fire extinguishers. And we couldn’t forget them – AEDs. Knowing exactly where these devices and tools for safety are located will help you move swiftly and with a purpose rather than asking, “Does anybody know where an AED is here?” A victim of Sudden Cardiac Arrest has zero time for that level of doubt. If you’re not seeing where critical devices such as AEDs are located, you need to talk with a manager of the venue immediately and get clarification. Is the device well within the main area of where the party will be held? Or is someone going to have to go up three floors to retrieve it? Don’t settle. Get the conditions you want and need in place long before the first guest ever arrives.

While some mishaps may be less life-threatening, one thing is a near certainty – the more people you have in attendance, the greater the risk of an accident that calls for first aid, like a slip-and-fall or cut. So, much like the devices we just mentioned, locate the nearest first aid cabinet in the venue hosting your event. Make sure that you can gain access to the cabinet at a moment’s notice or at least know who on staff you can instantly connect with to gain access and provide first aid quickly.

Designate Certain People As “Safety Monitors”

Everybody wants to have fun at a holiday party, naturally, but you’ve got to have a few people keeping a watchful eye on any behavior that’s getting fully out of hand, whether that pertains to potential sexual harassment, public drunkenness and other activities that make the rest of the attendees feel unsafe.

Limit Alcohol Serving Times And Keep Them Well Fed

An open bar with liquor flowing endlessly is a recipe for big potential issues at a holiday party. So take a page from sporting venues that tend to stop serving alcohol well before the game ends: Stop the serving of drinks an hour before the event is over. At the same time, keep a variety of starch-filled, protein-rich foods available as these items can slow down the absorption of alcohol and give your guests a crucial buffer between the time they stop drinking and the time they might leave the party.

Help Them Get There And Get Home Safely

The last thing you should do when holding an off-site event is leave it up to everyone on how to get home, whether they’ve had one drink too many or would simply like to avoid driving at what can be a hazardous time of year on the roads. That’s why you should have a car, bus or shuttle service that can transport guests home or a nearby hotel safely. Communicate in advance that this service will be available to them throughout the event and where at the location they can pick up a ride.

Is The Event Staff Trained In CPR And AED Operation?

It’s a fair question, so make sure your venue has the team on staff that is poised to deliver CPR and operate an AED. For that matter, do you know how many people on your own staff can act quickly to administer CPR or use an AED? Can you? It’s great to know where such devices are located, per our above suggestion. But CPR is a type of know-how that a person either possesses or they don’t. Go into your holiday party knowing that you have at least a small group of people you can count on to spring into action and take the proper steps to help save a life at a moment’s notice.

Hosting a holiday party, particularly a large one, is enough to strike fear into any management team concerned about safety issues. But with the right preparation to minimize risk, your team can help ensure everyone has a great time with a safe outcome.

In fact, we encourage you to take the important step now with several of your team members of receiving CPR and AED training directly from us at SOS Technologies. Call 888.705.6100 and ask us about our Holiday Special, where you can learn how to save a life and receive a nice discount while you’re at it if you book your class by January 30th, 2019.

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With SOS, it isn’t just about saving one life. At SOS Technologies, we understand that it only takes one life to touch so many others. We make every effort to save the lives of co-workers, spouses, children and friends. If their life means a lot to you, it means a lot to us. Which is why we've provided equipment for happier, healthier lives for over 40 years. Read More